The Wine Knows

As I reported last week, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates is rumored to be on the auction block once the sale of its parent company, US Tobacco, goes through. Experts think its new owner, Altria, will shed the highly profitable Woodinville-based producer.

Is Ste. Michelle Wine Estates for sale? That's the big question as its longtime parent company, US Tobacco of Greenwich, Conn., is being gobbled up by Altria Group.

UST makes smokeless tobacco products such as Skoal and Copenhagen, while Altria produces Marlboro cigarettes. The sale is in the $10.4 billion range.

Matt Loso, who founded his eponymous winery Matthews Cellars in 1993, is selling his interest in the Woodinville, Wash., operation to his financial partners.

The winosphere has been all abuzz this week with the revelation of some seemingly unsavory comments about wine critics - by the world's greatest wine critic.

No, not him. We're talking about Jancis Robinson.

Talk about a blind review. Maxim magazine decided to review the new Black Crowes album Warpaint without ever listening to the album.

The group was not amused.

This kind of reminds me - in a backward way - of many wine writers.

Stu Stein, owner and chef of Terroir Restaurant & Wine Bar in Portland, announced Friday that he has shuttered its doors just about six months after opening.

Harvest is a great time for rumors to fly around wine country, perhaps because everyone is talking to everyone as they get around their region to bring in grapes. A great rumor I heard last week was that Columbia Crest would be doubling its production this year to 4 million cases!